[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the October 17 episode of Jeopardy!]
Weaponizing Daily Doubles in Jeopardy!’s super-champion era is nothing new — take Andrew He knocking Mattea Roach out of the 2022 ToC upon arrival or 2024’s Masters players going all-in on every single one. But the difference between post-season and regular-season play became abundantly clear on Thursday, October 17 when Aaron Brown took perhaps the biggest Daily Double risk of Season 41, and it did not pay off.
The entrepreneur and trivia host (make that “Trivia Daddy,” as he told Ken Jennings) from London, Ontario faced returning champ Rishabh Wuppalapati, a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania from Vernon Hills, Illinois, and Angel Poe, an educational consultant from Navarre, Florida.
Entering with a two-day total of $42,402, Wuppalapati instantly got stiff competition from Brown, who mounted a wide lead by the end of the Jeopardy! round with $6,800, the former with $1,800, and Poe (missing the first daily double) -$1,200.
In Double Jeopardy, Brown found the second Daily Double with $10,800, wagering just $2,000 and failing to identify “The Daughters of Penelope.” Just two clues later, he found the remaining Daily Double.
Regaining a $200 lead with $10,400 over Wuppalapati’s $10,200, the clue was in the “The Books of Mormons,” category, about books by Mormon authors. Having missed the previous Daily Double, host Jennings noted: “You’re back in the lead, but I don’t know if you enjoyed the first one Aaron. What do you want to wager his time?” In an exercise in once-bitten, twice unshy, he decided to go all in.
“Let’s get this money, honey. All of it,” Brown said, as his fellow players exclaimed “Woah”, as did Jennings. “That surprised me, all the marbles,” the host said, before reading the clue: “One heck of a labyrinth is the only way out in this 2009 James Dashner novel.”
After a Mayim Bialik-length pause, Brown was able to Pavlov his way to “The Maze?” but was unable to come up with the correct response: “The Maze Runner.” In what can only be described as a huge vibe shift, he dropped to $0. “I’m sorry no,” Jennings said and it was no contest after that.
Neither player got Final Jeopardy as John Singer Sargent (Poe with -400 did not participate), and Wuppalapati (with legible handwriting, rest assured!) dropped from $15,400 to $10,400, sailing to a runaway victory and a three-day total of $52,802.
Fans and fellow players took to the Reddit thread for the episode discussing the outrageously courageous move that likely cost Aaron the game, and if it was the right move in addition to certainly being a memorable way to go out.
“Oh, my heart broke for Aaron,” third-placer Poe wrote. “Loved his ‘Trivia Daddy’ shoutout & willingness to make the big wager! I got that DD, but knowing that title probably requires you to have been into YA fiction at a particular time — iirc, it was coming out at the same time as a lot of dystopian fiction capitalizing on the Hunger Games hype. (Though I just looked it up and am surprised to learn that both the book and two of its sequels were adapted into films).”
Zoe Grobman, who lost to Wuppalapati in his first game, shared the reaction from within the studio: “That Huge Daily Double made everyone in the audience gasp. It’s such a shame it didn’t work out for Aaron but all of us players (and a certain 5x Champion in the audience that day) agreed it was absolutely the right move to make given how strong Rishabh had been so far against tough competition. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up with a second chance on the strength of that play.”
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Other fans in the thread agreed that given the reigning champ’s aggressive play, it was likely Brown’s best bet, so to speak, at unseating him (it’s called Jeopardy! afterall).
As a fifth fan put it: “Aaron my goat for DD3.” And a sixth: “So Aaron: good-naturedly dissed Ken’s work schedule, wore an awesome thrift-shop shirt, and made a balls-out bet on a daily double. Awesome. He needs to come back. I don’t care where he ended up for FJ.”
What did you think of Aaron Brown’s DD3 bet? Should he be added to the increasingly not-so-shortlist of deserving Second Chancers? Let us know in the comments section below (or if you have a lead on his western shirt manufacturer).
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